Big Fig Energy

It doesn’t hurt the romance of fig perfumes that cultures from the beginning of time have extolled this abundant fruit. Legend has it that Adam and Eve used fig leaves as loinclothes once they moved on from their nudist lifestyle, and that the Buddha was meditating under a fig tree when he became enlightened. Ancient Greeks bestowed figs as competition prizes, and Italians believe that fig trees ward off the evil eye and bring good luck.
Scientists call figs a "keystone resource” owing to the astonishing number of animals — more than 1,200 — that rely on it for nutrients. That includes humans, of course, who took a good few thousand millennia to discover that not only are figs good eating — they’re good smelling. It was 1994 before the first fig perfume appeared: Premier Figuier by L’Artisan Parfumeur. Olivia Giacobetti’s instant classic opened our noses to the appeal of this unique material, sitting between green, fruity, milky and gourmand — almost a genre all by itself! Every part of the fig tree can be expressed in perfume form. The leaves smell green and grassy, verging on coconut. The fruit supplies a richly sweet and milky facet, and fig wood registers as earthy and warm. Perfumers combine fig extracts and raw materials like galbanum (green), coconut (creamy) and jasmine (sweet), along with synthetics, to fine tune the particular effect they’re after.
It is a tribute to the allure of fig perfumes that they’ve established such devotion in their scant few decades of existence. Ranging from crisply verdant or driftwood dry to juicily jammy and milky mellow, fig fragrances summon summer, Mediterranean escapes, freedom — and comfort. Indulge yourself in this bountiful harvest of figgy delights.